The 38-year-old Tokyo resident is accused of using the character to stalk other characters and send threatening messages
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Officers from the Hyogo Prefectural Police’s personal safety department and Hyogo’s Tarumi police station arrested a 38-year-old male resident of Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward on Tuesday for allegedly stalking a 28-year-old female player years in the online video game Final Fantasy XIV and later on social networking services such as Twitter and LINE.
According to police, the suspect allegedly harassed the woman from March 20 to May 16 earlier this year, sending 22 text messages asking her to talk to him, or else he would reveal past conversations with her family.
Tarumi Police Station said the two met in Final Fantasy XIV in 2019 and began sending messages to each other in-game and through social media, but the woman later blocked all messages from him and he starts using his character in the game following her character around. According to the investigation, the suspect denied some of the allegations, saying “There are no romantic feelings.”
As of October 2022, Final Fantasy XIV had 27 million registered accounts.
Source: Kobe Shimbun via Siliconera, Hachima Kikō